Was sick girl rising? (5)
I believe the answer is:
ailed
'was sick' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'girl rising?' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'girl' could be 'aile' and 'aile' is found within the answer.
A single letter 'd' remains which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for ailed that I've seen before include "Was ill" , "was on the blink?" , "Troubled" , "Didn't feel well" , "Felt bad" .)